New Life
by xxxReaper of Shadowsxxx
Summary: Because of his actions during the Sasuke Retrieval Mission as well as the Chunnin Exams, Naruto has been forced to flee Konoha. Now he is free to live his life as he would like. How will it turn out?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: An End, A Beginning…

Cold. He shivered in spit of himself. It was impossible for him to become cold; he knew that was an unpleasant side effect of his tenant. He wrapped his arms around his knees. He hated thinking about his "guest". It was because of his unwelcome guest that things were the way they were.

He shivered again. He remembered that moment well. That moment when his world came crashing down around him. When his old life ended…

* * *

"Sakaura-chan really likes Sasuke doesn't she? Don't worry. I'll bring Sasuke back for sure. Believe it!" Naruto told Sakura. He plastered a huge grin on his face.

"Thank you Naruto," Sakura whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Alright, lets go," Shikamaru said. "We don't have much time."

The Sasuke Retrieval Team followed Shikamaru out of the village gates. Naruto sent another fake smile Sakura's way before following them

_Why Sasuke? _He thought as he sped through the treetops. _Why is it always about him. _He growled. _Well if bringing Sasuke back is the only thing that'll make Sakura notice me, then I guess I have no choice. I'll bring him back no matter what. And anyone who gets in my way is going down!_

But he had failed to stop Sasuke from going to Orochimaru, and worse yet, he was forced to unnecessarily drawn on the Kyuubi's power.

"Naruto, how could you?" Sakura screamed when he entered the village. "You promised me you would bring him back to me. You lied to me! I hate you!" She ran off crying.

Naruto felt as though a stake had been driven through his heart. He felt numb and cold inside, as though he had lost himself. He felt as if his while existence no longer mattered.

"Come on Naruto," Kakashi said, "lets get you to the hospital". The journey to the hospital was a long quiet one. Naruto could feel the glares that he was receiving from the villagers. A couple of them threw trash at him, but he made no attempt to block it. It didn't matter to him anymore. Kakashi did it for him.

After Naruto had been diagnosed (he was fine thanks to the Kyuubi) and they were sitting in his room, Kakashi said, "You did well today Naruto. All of you did. I didn't expect you to get as far as you did against Orochimaru's. And don't worry about Sasuke. It wasn't your fault. Sakura will see that once she calms down."

But it was his fault. He had broken a promise. He had failed Sakura, Sasuke, the entire village, and himself.

"Naruto! Kakashi!" Shizune exclaimed as she came bursting into the room. She bore a somber expression on her face.

"What is it Shizune?" Kakashi said seriously.

"I can't really talk," she said. "I've been -," she hesitated, "-I've been told to give this to Naruto." She held out a piece of paper folded in half. "It's from Tsunade." She handed Naruto the letter. He opened it with shaking hands and read.

_Naruto, I'm sorry to have to do this to you. You must leave the village now or the council will have you killed for using the charka of the nine-tailed in your battle against Sasuke, as well as during the Chunnin Exams. I can't stop it. Anbu are already on their way to arrest you. Leave Now!_

Naruto was at a loss for words. He dropped the letter into his lap, shock and disbelief etched across his face. Kakashi also had surprise written across his face.

"I'm sorry Naruto," Shizune said, tears spilling down her cheek. "If only…"

"We have to get you out of here Naruto," Kakashi said. "Is there anything that you want me to get for you on your way out of the village? Let me know. I'll get you some money too. Go stay with Inari and his family. You'll be safe there."

Naruto said nothing.

"Naruto…," Kakashi's voice softened. "We have to get you out of here Naruto. It's for your safety. You understand right?"

Naruto stared into his lap, silent. A lone tear rolled down cheek and feel into his hand. Naruto gazed at the wet spot on his hand and that's when it seemed to hit him. His hand curled into a fist. After all he'd done for them, for the village and everyone in it, this is how they wanted to repay him. This is how they reward him for taking down the Shukaku, and for convincing Tsunade to return to the village as Hokage.

"No more," Naruto growled. His eyes flashed crimson.

"Naruto…" Shizune said.

"Leave!" Naruto shouted, followed by another growl. His nails and canines elongated and sharpened. His eyes thinned into slits and turned crimson and the whisker marks on his cheeks became more pronounced.

Kakashi hopped to his feet and pulled his headband up, revealing his Sharingan. He gasped at what he saw. He could see copious amounts of red charka being gathered at Naruto's naval. If he built up anymore…

"Shizune! Lets go!" Kakashi called to her.

"What…"

_Damn_ Kakahi thought. _No time. _He grabbed Shizune and flung her out the door and dived out after her.

"Duck!" He shouted and covered his head with his arms.

There was a flash of red light and the walls surrounding Naruto's exploded outward. Wood and plaster went flying over Kakashi's. He raised his head and coughed as he inhaled dust. When the dust cleared he could make out Naruto on all fours, surrounding by a cloak of charka with two charka tails swishing behind him.

_Dammit Naruto. You just had to make everything worse._ Kakashi looked around to inspect the damage. He could see that Shizune was a little banged up, but relatively alright. A couple of people groaned as they rose to their feet, and shook rubble off themselves. _Doesn't look like anyone's hurt. Good. _Kakashi thought. He turned back toward Naruto's hospital room but Naruto was gone.

"Oh shi- "

"

"RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted, and thrust the swirling ball of charka into Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi was thrown back into a wall, and slid down, unconscious.

_I show them all_. Naruto turned back to his room, and leapt out of the hole he had created in the wall. He took off across the rooftops.

((((()))))

"Tsunade!" Shizune yelled as she burst into the Hokage's office out of breath.

"Shizune, what is it?" Tsunade asked.

"Its…Naruto"

((((()))))

BOOM

Another house exploded into as Naruto tore through it.

A barrage of kunai was thrown his way. Naruto simply waved his hand and the kunai disintegrated against his charka cloak. His tails obliterated an earth jutsu headed his way, and threw its caster down the street.

_I'll show them all who their dealing with. _

Naruto continued his rampage through the village, destroying anything that got in his path. A line of destruction was left in Naruto's wake as he steadily progressed to the Hokage Monument.

_Almost there _was Naruto thought before he felt something hard connect with his back, throwing him forward into the monument. He stood up slowly and spat out a mouthful of blood. With a sickening crunch, his shoulder popped back into place, and he turned around.

There stood Tsunade with an angry scowl plastered on her face.

"I don't want to have to hurt you Naruto. Stop this madness!" Tsunade said.

Naruto stood unmoving.

A crowd began to gather underneath the two. Civilians cursed and jeered at Naruto (as well as some ninja). Those that knew him however screamed at him to stop.

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered.

"Stop this Naruto," screamed Ino.

Still Naruto said nothing. He didn't respond in anyway to the words being thrown at him.

"Next time I won't hold back Naruto," Tsunade said. "Don't make me do this." She was close to tears.

Naruto stared directly at Tsunade with his crimson eyes. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he brought his fingers up into a familiar cross shaped seal.

"Tajuu: Kage Bushin no Jutsu"

Hundreds of shadow clones appeared on either side of Naruto, all of them with a demon fox cloak. Each Naruto stretched out its palm.

"No…" Tsunade whispered as charka began gathering in their hands. "Stop him!" She called to the Anbu who had gathered near her. They all rushed forward, hoping to stop Naruto before his jutsu was completed.

But it was too late. The Naruto's all turned to face the Hokage Monument with completed Rasengans in their hands.

"NO MORE!" Naruto shouted, and he and his clones drove their Rasengans into the base of the monument.

Chunks of rock flew everywhere as Naruto and his clones continued to drive into the monument, until their Rasengans had dispersed. A low rumbling was heard and a large crack grew from the base of the mountain to the Fourth's face.

BOOM

A large bolder fell from the mountain cliff and demolished a house. The sound was deafening. The ground began shaking.

"Everyone get out of here!" Tsunade shouted.

The crowd, ninja and civilian alike, turned and fled from the monument. Rocks, large and small, rained down from the mountain. The downpour of rocks slowly increased, until the mountain shuddered and collapsed.

Dust and debris flew everywhere.

Tsunade threw herself to the ground and covered her head. When the dust finally cleared Tsunade gasped. The entire monument was nothing more than a pile of rubble, and Naruto was gone.

((((()))))

"Interesting," said Itachi, who had witnessed the event. _This could prove helpful to my plans._

"I'm leaving Kisame."

Kisame looked up from the fire that he was tending to. "What the hell are you talkin' about Itachi?"

"There is business that requires my attention," Itachi said calmly. "I will return when I am done."

With that he sped off into the forest.

* * *

Naruto's breath caught in his chest and he shivered again. It wasn't the cold that made him shiver however. Nor was it his recollections of his actions. No, he shivered because of the pair of eyes hovering over him; Cold, emotionless eyes, blood red eyes with three comma-like marks swirling around in them.

Sharingan eyes.

He had only enough time to brace him before he heard the sound of a kunai being drawn, saw a glint of steel, and Itachi attacked.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Test

Only luck saved Naruto from the first strike that Itachi dealt, but even with luck Naruto could not escape the subsequent blows that followed. He grunted and doubled over in pain from a punch to the gut. Itachi simply watched him. Naruto straightened up, wiped blood from his mouth and brought his hands together.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu"

Five clones poofed into existence next to him. Three of them jumped at Itachi. They threw punches and kicks that Itachi dodged effortlessly.

"Pitiful," Itachi commented. He ran through a number and hand signs and brought his finger to his lips.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu"

He spat five fireballs which obliterated Naruto's clones. Naruto was hard pressed to dodge the fireball. He jumped to the left, out of range of the fireballs, and ran straight into Itachi's kick.

"Oof.," Naruto groaned. Naruto managed to get his hands under himself and bounced off of them back to his feet. He hurled a handful of shuriken at Itachi and then quickly created a Shadow Clone.

Itachi deflected the shuriken into the wall of the cave. "Pitiful," he said again, before grabbing Naruto's wrist preventing Naruto's Rasengan from hitting him. With one swipe of his kunai Naruto's clone (who tried to blindside him) was dispersed. Itachi squeezed Naruto's wrist, and Naruto fell to his knees in pain.

_Oh no _Naruto thought before Itachi's kick met his face. He crashed down to the ground in pain. Itachi wasn't done thought. He kicked Naruto in the stomach and sent him flying into the wall. Naruto groaned in pain. He struggled to stand up. Naruto threw a kunai at Itachi, who deftly caught it, and threw it back at Naruto with 3 other Kunai, that succeeded in pinning Naruto to the cave wall.

"Dammit," Naruto said as he struggled to get free.

Itachi walked calmly up to Naruto until he was a foot way. He pulled out a kunai and held it up to Naruto neck. "You are weak," Itachi said. He pressed his kunai into Naruto's throat and drew blood.

"Screw you," Naruto spat. He struggled more but couldn't get loose.

Itachi responded with a swift punch to Naruto's gut. Naruto groaned. "I could kill your right now."

"So why don't you?" Naruto spat.

Itachi did not respond, he simply stared at Naruto.

"What do you want?" Naruto said. Itachi responded with another punch to the gut. Naruto groaned and coughed up blood.

"You are weak," Itachi repeated. "You are weak because you lack control. Precision. Strategy. All the basic tools that are necessary for a ninja to have you are without. Your movements are uncoordinated and unrefined. You fight recklessly and blindly. Without the Kyuubi, you would be dead."

Naruto's eyes flashed crimson. Itachi appeared unfazed. "You rely too much on the power of the nine-tails. You didn't need it in your fight with my brother. If you'd be serious from the beginning, you could have ended it without serious injury. But you didn't think. You drew it out too long. You allowed my brother time draw on the power of the cursed seal. You allowed Sasuke's Sharingan to full mature. These both proved to be your downfall. Your dependence on Its power is the reason your in your current situation."

Naruto bit back his response. He knew Itachi was right.

"With the way you fight, you'll be dead within a week," Itachi hissed.

Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say," Itachi asked.

"It doesn't matte now," Naruto said miserably. "No one cares if I live or die. I've got nothing: no friends, no home. I was betrayed by the village I worked so hard to protect. There's nothing left to live for for me. It's over."

For a long time it was silent. All that could be heard was the steady breathing emanating from the two in the cave. Itachi looked to be in thought while Naruto bowed his head and closed his eyes. He seemed resigned to his fate. It was Itachi who finally broke the silent spell.

"You disappoint me Uzumaki," Itachi said. "You truly believe there is nothing left to live for when you are wrong."

"What," Naruto began, "is there left to live for."

"That is your question to answer," Itachi whispered.

"What the hell are you talking about," Naruto said.

"There is always something to live for. You have to find it. Sasuke understood this. This is why he is stronger than you." Naruto growled. "He exists to kill me. His entire purpose is to become strong enough to end my life. That is his one an only focus of life, and he will use any means necessary. His desire for power is so great that he betrayed his entire village, and sought to kill his best friend. "

"Thanks for reminding me," Naruto muttered. "What about you then. What's your reason," he asked.

Itachi responded, "There are a number of things that I must ensure happen. They are of no concern to you."

Naruto fell silent. He thought for a while, and then piped up, "Even if I had a reason it doesn't matter. You said so yourself. I'll be dead within the week."

"And if you could change that?" Itachi asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

Itachi deftly pulled the kunai holding Naruto in place out of the wall. "Get up," he said.

Naruto rubbed the feeling back into his arms and rose to his feet. _What the hell is going on_ he thought? 'What are you up to," he asked Itachi.

Itachi smirked and replied, "You want to change your situation. Prove it. Prove to me that you're not as weak as I think you are. Pass my test and I'll train you."

Naruto glared suspiciously at Itachi. "Why do you want to train me?" He received no answer. "Alright, we'll do it your way. But why should I trust you?"

Itachi smirked again, "You shouldn't. My goal to capture you hasn't changed. But you have no choice." He threw a kunai to Naruto. "Prepare yourself!" he said and the he attacked.

Naruto blocked the shuriken Itachi threw with his kunai. He followed up with his own shuriken. _Okay _he thought. _I'm actually going to have to think this fight out. There's no way I can beat Itachi heads up, especially not with his Sharingan. It'll be hard to out strategy him to out strategize him also. I guess I'll have to get clever. _He dodged a punch thrown by Itachi. _Or lucky_. He threw a kick at it Itachi. Itachi grabbed his leg and threw Naruto over his shoulder. Naruto landed on his feet and threw a handful of shuriken at Itachi.

"Is that all," Itachi asked before he blurred out of existence. The shuriken sailed over the spot he had been standing on. He reappeared behind Naruto and kicked him in the back.

"You're still not thinking," Itachi said. "You'll have to do better than this."

Naruto sprang to is feet. _Can't let him let inside my head. _He brought his hand together. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu." A clone popped into existence on either side of Naruto. "Henge." One of he clones transformed into a giant Windmill Shuriken. _I owe you one for this technique Sasuke. Hope it works. _The other clone jumped at Itachi, hoping to distract him.

Itachi effortlessly dodged the strikes coming from Naruto's clones. _This bores me _he thought. He had just finished dispatching Naruto's clone when he heard a loud buzzing sound. He turned to see the shuriken headed his way.

_Yes, its headed right for him_ Naruto thought. Itachi however wasn't fazed. He twitched his head to the left and the shuriken when sailing past his ear, taking a small lock of hair with it.

"Too easy," Itachi said hoping to rile Naruto up but Naruto just smirked and twitched his finger.

Instinct alone saved Itachi from a horrible decapitation. He sprung to the left and the shuriken went sailing past him. Naruto caught it with a smile and twirled it around in his fingers.

"Interesting," Itachi said. "So you attached wire to the shuriken while your clone was distracting me. You threw it knowing that it would land somewhere behind me, in my Sharingan blind spot. You were hoping that I would let my guard down, which I did albeit briefly, so that you could catch me by surprise."

Naruto nodded. "So what do you think?"

"Not bad," Itachi said. "Are you ready?"

Naruto said nothing; he responded by throwing the shuriken back at Itachi, this time dead on. An Itachi clone sprang into existence in front of Itachi and caught the shuriken. Naruto's fingers twitched again, and a second shuriken sailed around Itachi's clone and headed straight at Itachi. _Shadow Shuriken? _He thought. Naruto wasn't done yet. He followed up by throwing a handful of shuriken and then brought his hands together. "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu." The shuriken multiplied 30-fold. The blew through Itachi's clone and headed straight for Itachi.

Itachi now faced two giant shuriken and a close to hundreds of smaller shuriken. _I could dodge these_ Itachi thought, _but that would get us nowhere. _He closed his eyes and said, "Impressive display, but you forget who I am." He reopened them to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Amaterasu," He said. A wall of black flame intercepted the path of the shuriken. When it died down, the shuriken were nothing more than a cloud of black ash.

"Rasengan," cried Naruto from behind Itachi.

"So it was also a distraction," Itachi said while performing hand seals. "Doton: Doryūheki" A wall of earth erupted from the ground behind Itachi. Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the wall.

_He didn't even turn around _Naruto thought with disbelief. He heard the swish of a cloak and turned around to meet Itachi's kick. "Arrggg," Naruto groaned as he slammed into the earth wall. Itachi's hands flashed through seals.

"Chidori!" A crackling ball of electricity appeared in his hand. Itachi looked at Naruto. "It's over," he said. "You've failed."

"Hahaha," Naruto laughed. "Have I," he said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

_Shadow clone _Itachi thought before the ground behind him erupted. Out sprang Naruto. Itachi quickly did a 180-degree spin and drove his Chidori through Naruto's shoulder. He poofed out of existence.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto cried from behind Itachi. He was too close for Itachi dodge. Time seemed to stand still for Naruto. He inched closer and closer to Itachi, until he was but a hair away from Itachi. _I got him! _Naruto thought. His Rasengan touched Itachi's back…and then Itachi disappeared. He didn't fizz out or melt into water or poof away like a Bushin jutsu. He simply vanished. "What the hell!" Naruto said, frustration evident on his face.

"Impressive," he heard.

"What…" Naruto shook his head and blinked a couple of times. He was sitting on the ground with his back up against the cave wall hugging his knees. He was confused. His mind raced.

"Genjutsu," he said aloud. "The whole time…?"

"Yes," Itachi replied.

"And it's over now? So does that mean I passed?"

"I ended the genjutsu because I could see with my Sharingan that you were starting to run low on charka," Itachi said. "And no you didn't pass the test." Naruto's face fell. Itachi added. "Nor did I expect you to pass or even come close to passing. You showed me that you can think logically and strategically during battle, even if your tactics were crude and unrefined. I did not expect to have to expend more than ten percent of my charka against you but I did. You did well enough. You are…acceptable."

"And that's why your letting me pass," Naruto asked.

"No," Itachi said. "I'm letting you pass to further my plans and because you impressed me. A little..."

"Excellent." Naruto stood up. "So what now?" he asked.

"You tell me," Itachi asked. "Do you want to change your situation? Do you want the power I could give to you? And if you take my power, will you use to get your revenge?"

Naruto said nothing. He couldn't come up with an answer.

"No matter," Itachi said after a while. "You'll have time to think later." He walked to the cave entrance. Naruto followed. "Now prepare yourself."

"For what," Naruto asked.

"For your second test and your first lesson," Itachi replied.

"Which is…?" Naruto asked.

"Speed," Itachi said simply. "Keep up or get left behind." Itachi blurred out of sight.

Naruto groaned, and then he too vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Three Years Later

_Three years. It's been three years since the day that I left Konoha. _Naruto thought. _I can't believe it. So much has happened in these three years, I myself have trouble processing it all. Though I still wonder what would've happened if I had stayed in Konoha, minus the whole we're-gonna-kill-you-thing. _He jumped over a large sand mound, and landed on his feet, cloak billowing behind him. He continued his progress through the sand. _Damn. I really hate sand._

_**If you had stayed in Konoha you'd still be an idiot, **_Kyuubi remarked. _**As much as it pains me to say, you've grown brat. Even though you're still an idiot.**_

Naruto smirked to himself. _Yeah I've grown _he said. _But it was no thanks to you._

_**You ungrateful brat! **_Kyuubi growled. _**Do you know who you're talking to!**_ _**I am the KYUUBI NO KITSUNE, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Lord of the Biju, and you are no more than an INSUFFERABLE LITTLE WHELP who would die on a whim without me!**_

_Relax furball, _Naruto said, a_lthough you did try to get me killed a number of times. And I remember all of those times that you tried to take control of my body. _Kyuubi remained silent. _Haha. That's what I thought. Fox got your tongue. _The Kyuubi growled. _Alright, alright I'll stop _Naruto said.

_**So are you ready for what your about to do? **_Kyuubi asked. _**Are you strong enough now?**_

Naruto snorted. _I'd better be, _he said. _After nothing but training for three years, if I'm not strong enough I might as well just quit being a ninja. There's no way I'd be able to get another training opportunity like I did. _

_**Obviously, **_Kyuubi replied, _**although I think you still should've trained under the Uchiha longer. Even though I DESPISE THEM!**_

_Yes, we know all about irrational hatred of the Uchiha for making your attack the village, _Naruto said. _But because you're the Kyuubi, I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't have just attacked the village anyway; earlier if you had your way._

_**Yeah, **_Kyuubi began, _**but it's the principle of the matter. **_

_Anyway, _Naruto said. _I would've stayed with Itachi longer if I could have. But you know Itachi. _He sighed and thought back to his last day with Itachi two years ago.

* * *

Naruto leapt into the air and back flipped over a giant fireball. He caught the twenty shuriken that were flying at him in his hands, and threw them back at the direction that they came from to intercept the kunai that were thrown after the shuriken. He then ducked and a kick went sailing over his head. He whirled around, delivering a kick of his own that was blocked, and then jumped away. He smirked at his opponent, and then blurred out of sight. He struck his opponent in the back, and his opponent melted into a pile of water.

"That's enough," Itachi said from the treetops. He jumped down into the clearing where Naruto was waiting. "You did well against my water clone. Even though it was only 1/15 my total strength and it didn't use any jutsu nor did it fully utilize my Sharingan. But your performance was…acceptable."

"That's bull," Naruto complained. "A water clone is supposed to be 1/8 of the maker's strength."

"True," Itachi began, "but I feared 1/8 of my total strength would be too much for you to handle." He smirked as he said this.

"You're so full of yourself," Naruto remarked.

"Also true," Itachi said, "but when you're me your have the right to be." Naruto laughed. "But on to more serious business." He paused before continuing. "You have progressed well in your training. You have exceeded all of my expectations.

"You sound surprised," Naruto interjected.

Itachi smirked. "I am surprised. You have impressed me. Now you must move on to the next level of your training."

"Excellent," Naruto said. "What's it going to be now?"

"You misunderstand me. It is time for us to part ways. I will no longer be your teacher. I have taught you everything that I deemed fit for you to know. If you wish to get stronger, you must do it on your own."

"Why am I not surprised," Naruto said, before his poofed out of existence, a result of a fist through his stomach.

"That doesn't work on my anymore," Naruto said from his perch on a tree branch above Itachi's head. "Just like your genjutsu no longer work on me."

"Really," Itachi asked.

"Yep. That's how I know that we're in a genjutsu right now." Itachi laughed. Naruto nearly fell from his tree branch. "A laugh from Itachi, cold hearted murderer? The world must be coming to an end."

"It seems that I have trained you well," Itachi said regaining his composure. "And now for your final test."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "And what would that be?"

"You must answer the question that I asked you a year ago. Your answer will help me determine how far you've progressed, and it will help you gain a better understanding of where your life is going. So I ask you again: I've given you power. I taught you things I would not teach anyone else, things that led to my success as a ninja. What will you do with it? Where will your path go from here? What is the purpose of your existence?"

Naruto sat and thought for a long time. He looked around from his perch at the clearing that they were camped in. _So much has happened to me this year. I didn't think things would be like this when I agreed to this training a year ago. It's been tough, but I've gained so much. Itachi has become one of the only people I can trust, which is weird considering he killed his whole clan, could kill me on a whim, and its his job to bring me to Akatsuki _"You know, I'm still mad that you wouldn't tell me anything about Akatsuki," Naruto said to Itachi_._

"That would be giving you another unfair advantage," Itachi said before falling silent.

_So what is my path now? What do I do with this power, _Naruto thought. He closed his eyes. _Everything that has happened this year has led me to this point. Where do I go from here? _He opened his eyes.

"Do you have an answer," Itachi asked.

"Yes I do," Naruto said. "I've concluded that I have no path from here."

Itachi arched his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have no set path. My path is whatever I chose to make it. I'm not striving to become the leader of a village, or to kill someone. I'm striving to do things for the simple purpose of doing them. I'm striving to get stronger because I want to get strong for myself, not to become Hokage, or kill you like Sasuke is. So what is my reason to exist; what am I going to do with this power? I'm going to live my life the way I want to live it with this new power. I'm done being weak. I'm done being a total pushover. If I decide to do good one day then I will. If I want to protect or destroy I will. But I'm no longer going to let anyone hold me back from living and enjoying my new life and doing the things I want to do." He paused, and then said, "Not even you."

Itachi was silent before a minute before replying, "You have found a good reason. You are progressing as I had hoped for. I am now convinced that letting you on your own is the right decision." Itachi exploded into a flock of ravens that all dived into Naruto's mouth and flew down his throat. He gagged and tried not to throw up. Naruto could hear Itachi's voice say, "This should help you in the future. Train hard. Become stronger. When we next meet, I will not hold back." Then the genjutsu faded.

Naruto stood up from his spot on the ground. "I don't expect you to," he said to himself before leaping into the trees and disappearing from sight.

* * *

_Good times _Naruto thought.

_**Your training under the wretched Uchiha went as expected, **_Kyuubi said. _**As strange as it was though, what was stranger was what happened a month later.**_

_Yeah, _Naruto said, _how strange was it to find Jiraiya a month later. _

* * *

A month after his departure from Itachi, Naruto found himself wandering through a village in the Land of Iron. He knew it was perfect for hiding from hunter-nin. He had been looking through the marketplace for supplies when he sees Jiraiya.

"Damn, it's Jiraiya," he said to himself._ There's no way I can beat Jiraiya if he wants to fight. I've got to get out of here. _He quickly turned around and slowly began walking out of the marketplace and out of the village. For all his caution though, he was spotted by Jiraiya who began to follow him. _Damn, he saw me_, Naruto thought when he noticed Jiraiya following him. _Better get ready. _He continued to lead Jiraiya out of the village toward a small clearing. When they got there he stopped and turned around.

"Long time, no see Jiraiya," Naruto said, with an emotionless expression on his face. _I have to play this to my favor._

"Indeed it has Naruto," Jiraiya replied. "It's strange to see you in the land of Iron. Any particular reason you're here?

_You're not getting information out of me that easily Jiraiya, _Naruto thought before saying, "Oh you know, just the usual; hiding from hunter-nin. What do you want Jiraiya?"

"I'm sorry Naruto but I have to take you back to the village," Jiraiya replied. "I would prefer if you came peacefully."

Naruto pretended to think about it. "Go back to the village that wants me dead. I think not."

Jiraiya raised a kunai and said, "I'll take you by force if I have to."

Naruto laughed. "Hahaha. No you won't Jiraiya. You don't want to hurt your precious student's son." Jiraiya was taken aback by Naruto's words. "So that rules out killing me too. So what now? Where do we go from here Jiraiya?"

"We could both walk away. Pretend we never saw each other. I won't say anything to Tsunade," Jiraiya said.

Naruto laughed again. "And I'm supposed to trust you, when you couldn't even tell me who my father was. I don't think so. I have a much better idea."

"Which is?"

"Train me,"Naruto said.

This time it was Jiraiya who laughed. "Why would I do that?"

Naruto's expression grew serious. He scowled and said," Because you owe me. You owe me for not trying to help out when we went to go get Sasuke even though you were in the village with nothing to do. You owe me for sitting back and letting the village try to execute me. And finally, you owe me for not telling me who my father was which is why you really agreed to train me for the Chunin exams and for not taking my training seriously that time"

Jiraiya observed Naruto. He could see that he was not playing around, he was all business. _What's happened to him, _Jiraiya thought. "Alright brat," Jiraiya relented. "I'll train you."

Naruto's expression changed. "Excellent. And just think about it this way; while your helping me get stronger you can try to convince me not to burn Konoha to the ground," he said and began walking away.

Jiraiya didn't laugh. "Very funny brat. You know, just for that, I'm not going to go easy on you his time." He began to follow Naruto. "What am I training you in anyway?"

"A little bit of this and that," was Naruto's reply. "I figured we'd start with the Rasengan."

Jiraiya thought for a second before saying, "Yeah sounds good. You'd better be ready"

"Oh I am."

* * *

After his year of training with Jiraiya he went to seek out his last teacher. Luckily, he didn't have to go very far.

* * *

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sound of water was the first thing that he hear when he entered "its" domain. He walked down a wet, dark corridor until he reached his destination. A large room with a single light in it. At the far end of the room was a giant cage with a seal over it.

**WHO DARES ENTER MY DOMAIN **a loud voice called.

"Who else would it be," Naruto replied. "It's not like you're in anybody else's body. And what a terrible job you're doing in here. You really should clean up the place. Call a plumber and do something about this water."

The Kyuubi's face came into view, his lips twisted into a snarl, saliva running from his mouth and down his chin. He roared at Naruto.

"Is that all you can do," Naruto asked. "You really should put a muzzle on it." As he spoke a muzzle appeared on the Kyuubi.

**YOU DARE MUZZLE ME!**

"Well this is my mind, giving me the power to do whatever I want here," Naruto said. The Kyuubi laughed.

**You presume much brat. This is as much your mind as it is mine **the Kyuubi said, and his muzzle disappeared. **And I've had years to perfect my use of it. **Naruto was suddenly tied up, frozen in place. _What the hell, _Naruto thought. **Now feel my wrath fool. **A large red claw, dripping with blood, emerged from between the bars of the cage and tried to impale Naruto. Just before it hit though it was stopped and was forced back into the cage.

"Seems that you've forgotten about one thing," Naruto said as he freed himself. "Bet you would love to kill me. Too bad you can't. And even if you could, you would die too. Sucks don't it?"

**Don't provoke me brat. Now WHAT DO YOU WANT **the Kyuubi roared.

"I want you to train me," Naruto said as he walked closer to the cave.

**And why would I do that? **The Kyuubi asked.

Naruto walked up to the seal and place his hand on it. "Because I can make it worth your while."

* * *

_I spend a year with Itachi doing taijutsu and detecting genjutsu. I spent a year with Jiraiya doing chaka control, elemental affinity's and seals. And I spent six months with the Kyuubi doing ninjutsu and increasing my charka capacity. Then I spent six months building my network and exploring the elemental nations. It's been a crazy three years. To think it all led back to this _Naruto said as he sped through the forest.

_**I'm just glad that you got rid of the jumpsuit, **_Kyuubi said.

Naruto laughed. He had burned that orange jumpsuit a year ago. He now sported a jet black, sleeveless, tight-fitting shirt and black pants with orange stripes on the outer edges. He also sported a black hooded cloak, with orange flames dancing along the bottom, and an orange spiral on the back. He also had on black fingerless gloves with orange flames on them. [Orange and Black Rule]

"Still can't believe we haven't been noticed yet," Naruto said, as he jumped through the trees, following the group of ninja in front of him. Konoha ninja.

_**Still can't believe you're going to do this**_**, **Kyuubi said.

_I wouldn't normally but its Gaara _he said. A week ago he had heard from his network that Akatsuki was making its move. He heard they were striking Suna first, and immediately rushed to Suna to help Gaara. He was too late to stop Akatsuki from kidnapping Gaara, but he got there just in time to learn that a Konoha team was going to rescue him. He had been following them ever since. He stayed far enough away from them to remain undetected but as a result he could not determine who they were.

_**Are you going to kill them?**_

_Is that all you think about? No, I would actually rather not have to fight them today. I just want to get Gaara, maybe kill a few Akatsuki members, and then get out. _He continued to follow the ninja in front of him.

The Konoha group jumped down into a clearing. _What the hell are you doing? _Naruto crept closer to them. He could see them now. It was…Kakashi, some old lady, and Sakura. (_**She's looking pretty good**_,) But that's not what shocked him the most. He could see why they were stopped and why they were so tense.

It was Itachi.

_**C**__r__**a**__p _Naruto and the Kyuubi both thought. _He's definitely spotted me. Don't really want to fight but I guess I'll have to. Oh well, guess I'd better introduce myself._

((((()))))

Kakashi had just finished explaining to Chiyo how dangerous Itachi was when an ominous wind blew into the clearing. Thunder boomed in the distance and a bolt of lightning struck the ground between the two parties. Orange smoke rose from the spot of impact and then it was blown away by another gust of wind. Standing there was a man in an orange and black cloak. _Who the hell is that _Kakashi thought.

It was Itachi who spoke. He looked at the newcomer with an unsurprised look across his face. "So, you've finally decided to join us…Naruto!"

* * *

That right, Itachi's here and things are gonna get crazy

For all of those who wanted to actually know what happened during the training, sorry to disappoint you. I hope this chapter kind of lets you know where Naruto is in terms of strength.

Thank you my reviewers (all 3) and all the people who've favorited this story. I didn't expect such a reaction so soon.

Next Chapter: Reunion Showdown


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for all the reviews. Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, unfortunately, because my version would be so much better.

* * *

There was complete silence. Itachi stood twenty feet away from Naruto with a barely distinguishable smirk on his face. The tension was thick in the air.

_**Showoff, **_Kyuubi said.

_Am not, _Naruto replied.

_**Raiton: Shushin no Jutsu was unnecessarily flashy.**_

_Maybe it was but it was fun. _Naruto glanced back toward the group from Konoha. Shock and disbelief were written across the faces of Sakura and Kakashi, but Chiyo looked uncaring. _Look at their faces. That look is priceless. _

_**Kit…, **_Kyuubi warned.

_Yea I know. Its time to get serious._ Naruto put his guard up.

_**Go. Kill the wretched Uchiha brat. Just don't forget our deal. And don't use THAT jutsu. If you do you will regret it.**_

_Yea I know. I'm starting to regret ever making a deal with you._

_**Too bad, fool. Now BEGONE. I must rest, so don't use me and my charka unless necessary. And don't die. **_Kyuubi cut the mental link.

_Okay it looks like I'm on my own which is just the way I like it. I'll have to be careful though. Can't go too crazy or furball will interfere. And I also don't want to reveal too much of my abilities to Konoha ninjas or Itachi for that matter. Although he probably knows what I've been doing the last two years. _

"What that really necessary," Itachi asked. He regarded Naruto with a cold look.

"Of course it wasn't but you know me; I've got to make my presence know in a big way," Naruto replied with a grin.

"So how long have you been trailing them?" Itachi asked.

"Since Suna," Naruto responded. "I'm surprised. You would think in three years that their detection skills would improve but I guess not. Although it worked out in my favor so I'm not mad. I'm surprised you're here though. You're not really the run-into-battle kind of guy. Isn't that what Kisame's for? Where is he by the way?"

"Kisame is otherwise engaged with other Konoha ninja," Itachi replied coolly.

"Guess I'll just have to settle for you," Naruto said his eyes locked onto Itachi's.

"Boy, are you mad!" Chiyo shouted out at him. "I don't know who you are, but you're a fool to antagonize that Itachi like that!"

"She's right," Itachi said. "I'm surprised by your frankness, and even more surprised that you have the guts to look me in the eyes. I can kill with these things, you know."

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "I know all about your death stare. But I don't think the Akatsuki leader would be happy if you killed the Kyuubi host. So I'm just gonna look at you all I want in the eyes, instead of in the feet like these guys." He gestured to Sakura, Kakashi and Chiyo. "And by the way," he glanced over his shoulder at the three. "If you don't want to die horrible deaths, I would suggest that you help me. Itachi can't take the four of us."

Sakura and Kakashi were still too stunned by Naruto's appearance and his words to reply. It was Chiyo who said, "Why should we trust you. We don't know what village your from or who you are?"

"My name is Naruto; that's all you need to know. And you shouldn't trust me but you've only got two options. Help me or stay out of my way."

Itachi yawned before saying, "Are you finally finished talking?"

Naruto smirked before replying, "Yeah I am." He jumped back to the three ninja behind him and stood with them. "Lets go." Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a handful of shuriken. He threw them at Itachi, made a hand seal, and shouted, "Kage Shuriken no Jutsu." The five shuriken multiplied into twenty. They were headed straight for Itachi but he wasn't worried.

"Doton: Doryūheki," Itachi said calmly, and a wall of earth rose out of the ground to block the shuriken. _As expected _Naruto thought as he and Itachi blurred from sight. Naruto blocked a kunai stab from Itachi and lashed out with a kick of his own. It was blocked by Itachu's forearm. Naruto smirked before delivering a swift punch to Itachi's gut. Itachi barely blocked it, and the force of the punch sent him flying back a couple of feet. Itachi quickly pulled himself together, and rushed after Naruto. The sound of kunai meeting could be heard. Sakura Kakashi, and Chiyo looked on in disbelief that Naruto was matching Itachi in battle.

Naruto jumped away from Itachi and looked at the three idle ninja. "What the hell are you guys waiting for?!!" Naruto shouted out before jumping back to dodge Itachi's shuriken. "This is freakin' Itachi Uchiha, SS Rank ninja, murderer of his entire clan when he was thirteen. Some help would be nice!" He resumed his Taijutsu battle with Itachi.

This seemed to shake the three ninja out of their stupor. "Right," Kakashi said. "Chiyo, Sakura, lets go." They leap into action.

Chiyo summoned two puppets and launched them at Itachi.

Kakashi flew through hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu" From his mouth spewed a giant ball of fire, hurtling straight at Itachi.

Itachi kicked Naruto away and dodge the fireball. It kept going and incinerated a line of trees behind Itachi.

_Nice Kakashi, but I'll do you one better _Naruto thought as he rose to his feet. He ran through hand seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu," Naruto shouted. He followed up with, "Fūton: Daitoppa." The fireball that Naruto launched at Itachi was strengthened by his wind jutsu and became a torrent of raging fire. It crashed straight into Itachi who poofed away. _Shadow Clone? Should have seen that coming. _Naruto jumped to his left just in time to avoid a barrage of shuriken.

Itachi leap out of the ground in front of Sakura. _Now's my chance_ Sakura thought. She threw a haymaker at Itachi, who ducked, and demolished an unlucky tree. Naruto whistled. _Better avoid that. _Sakura followed up with a punch-kick combo that Itachi jumped back to avoid. He jumped back into the waiting arms of Chiyo's puppet, who attempted to stab him with a poisoned kunai. It succeeded and Itachi once again vanished into a cloud of smoke.

_**Something's off **_**Naruto thought as he opened his senses, trying to locate Itachi. **_**There's no way Itachi would get**__ cornered this easily, especially not with his Sharingan. This is way too easy. _

"Oof," Naruto grunted as he was kicked into a tree by Itachi. _Maybe I spoke a little too soon. _

Sakura made a hand seal and then spat a long stream of a sticky green substance at Itachi. He evaded it, and it landed on a tree and began to melt through it. _What the hell! She can spit acid now _Naruto thought. (I had to give Sakura something.)

"Chidori," Kakashi shouted from behind Itachi. He charged at Itachi with a crackling ball of lightening in his hand. Itachi dodged Kakashi's Chidori and kicked him in the head. Kakashi was sent flying straight at Naruto, who grabbed him and threw him back at Itachi. Kakashi thrust out with his Chidori hand… only to be met by another Chidori.

_He copied the Chidori? _Kakashi thought. _When did he do that? _Itachi and Kakashi's Chidori began to battle, struggling for dominance, but neither side would budge and inch.

"Enough," Itachi said before he shushined away. He blocked a sword stab by one of Chiyo's puppets and proceeded to destroy the puppet with a swift kick. It shattered into hundreds of pieces by the force of the punch. He grabbed Sakura's outstretched hand, which was in the midst of throwing a punch, and threw her over his shoulder into Chiyo. He then blurred out of sight. He reappeared behind Naruto, catching him unawares and stabbed him in the shoulder with his kunai before kicking him into Kakashi. The two fell to the ground with a thud and Sakura and Chiyo rushed over to help them.

"I'm fine," Naruto growled at Sakura, who was attempting to help him up. "Pay attention to Itachi." He rose to his feet and pulled the kunai out of his shoulder. His face grimaced in pain. _Wounds not very deep which is good. Not that it matters anyway. It'll be healed in a couple of minutes. _He looked to his left. Kakashi and Chiyo appeared unharmed. _Now what's your game Itachi; why would you group us together where we can help each other. Unless…_

"Dammit, it's a trap!" Naruto shouted at the three ninja.

But it was too late. Itachi made four shadow clones, one on each side of the group, surrounding them. He himself was above them. Itachi and his clones threw as many kunai and shuriken as they could before all shouting:

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!"

Thousands of kunai and shuriken now rained down on the four from all directions. The ninja looked around in horror. There was no way to escape the onslaught. In seconds they would be skewered.

_I really didn't want to have to reveal this yet _Naruto thought, annoyed that Itachi was pushing him this far. "Stay close to me!" he shouted to the others before beginning to spin in place at incredible speeds, expelling charka in all directions.

"Futon: Hakkeshou Kaiten!" (That's Right. He stole the Hyuuga technique.)

A large dome of spinning charka surrounded the group of four. When the shuriken kunai met the dome they were shredded to bits. When all of the weapons were destroyed, the dome exploded outward sending wind charka in every direction. The charka sliced through everything in their paths: tress, rocks, bushes, as well as Itachi's clones.

_Interesting, _Itachi thought.

_Impossible _Kakashi thought.

"This is getting tiresome," Itachi said. He created three more shadow clones and sent them off to deal with Kakashi, Sakura, and Chiyo. Then he confronted Naruto. "You've gotten stronger," Itachi said. 'You are far more powerful than I imaged you would become three years ago. He struck out a Naruto with a kunai.

Naruto blocked Itachi's kunai strike and responded with a kick while saying, "Well I do have a knack for surprising people." He blocked a kick by Itachi and flipped over his head to land behind him. He swiveled around and delivered a chakra-enhanced kick that Itachi blocked with his forearm. They jumped away from each other while flying through hand seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu," Naruto said, and expelled a large fire dragon from his mouth. It bore down on Itachi. Itachi jumped back to get some distance between him and the fire dragon and completed his hand seals.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu," he said. A large dragon of water exploded out of the lake next to itachi.

Itachi's water dragon plowed through Naruto's fire dragon extinguishing it. It smashed into Naruto sending him skidding back. Naruto, using chakra, managed to stay on his feet. The water dragon reared its body back, preparing to strike again.

"Rasengan," Naruto called and plowed Itachi's water dragon with his Rasengan. Then he blocked the kick that was aiming for his head and grabbed Itachi's leg. He threw Itachi to the ground and watched the clone poof away. _These clones are starting to get annoying. _Itachi popped out of the ground fifteen feet away from Naruto with a Chidori in his hand. Naruto held out his hand and began gathering charka.

"Chidori," Itachi shouted.

"Fūton: Rasengan," Naruto shouted.

There was a flash of light as the two attacks met. Their attacks met. As soon as they did, Naruto's Rasengan began grinding away into Itachi's Chidori. There was no way Itachi's Chidori could overcome the elemental advantage that Naruto's Rasengan had. Itachi backed off to avoid damage to his hand before being forced to dodge a kick from Sakura that left a crater in the ground. Itachi grabbed her leg before she could pull her back and threw her into a tree. She landed with a hard thud.

Kakashi looked on in disbelief. _He managed to add his elemental affinity to his Rasengan. Not even the fourth could do that. _He rushed to Sakura's aid.

Itachi back flipped high into the air and landed a good distance away from Naruto. He took one step forward and felt hands grab his feet from underground. He jumped up and brought Chiyo's puppet out of the ground. He incinerated it with a fire jutsu. He turned back around to face Naruto and saw him gathering a large amount of charka in his hands. Itachi brought his hands up to perform a jutsu when Kakashi popped out of the ground and grabbed hold of his, preventing him from moving.

"Get it! It's just a clone!" Kakashi shouted at Naruto as he climbed out of the whole made by his clone.

Naruto smirked as he finished preparing his jutsu. _Nice. I get to kill Itachi and Kakashi at the same time._

_**It's just a clone.**_

_Whatever._

Naruto charged at Itachi with his jutsu, a large ball of swirling charka. He jumped and plowed his jutsu into Itachi. Itachi smirked.

Naruto thought. _I was with Itachi and he rarely smirked. There's no way he would do it now. Something's up. _Time seemed to slow as he got closer and closer to Itachi. _Damn, I can't stop myself. I'm too close. Shi-_

"ŌDAMA RASENGAN!"

BOOM

The explosion that followed was tremendous. Kakashi was thrown back from the force of the explosion. Trees were ripped from their roots and went flying. Sakura and Chiyo had to cover their eyes to keep dust and debris from getting in them.

When the dust cleared, they saw that a five foot wide crater had been formed where the attack had hit. Naruto was in the center of it standing over a body. The others rushed toward him.

"That's no Itachi," Sakura said. And indeed it wasn't. What had been Itachi was now a Suna ninja. Chiyo gasped.

"I know that ninja!" she said. "I recognize him from the sound village. That's Yuura. He was on the advisory council for the Kazekage."

"Dammit," Kakashi said. "This must be one of Akatsuki techniques. He had all the skills that Itachi had."

"Not all of them," Naruto said before he could stop himself. "I could sense that something was off. This guy was slower and weaker than Itachi, and his taijutsu was sloppy. He was a good imitator, but he was not Itachi."

_**Your not suppose to know about the Uchiha remember? Now your going to have to kill them to keep them from talking. **_The Kyuubi grinned viciously at the prospect.

_I'm not killing anyone, especially not to sate your bloodlust _Naruto replied.

"And how do you know so much about the Uchiha," Chiyo asked suspiciously.

"Don't concern yourself with that," Naruto said before he burned the body with a fire jutsu. "You should be more focused on getting to the Akatsuki base and rescuing Gaara."

"We will. There's just one thing we've got to take care of first," Kakashi said and then he attacked.

Kakashi sprang at Naruto, kunai in hand, intended on stabbing him. Naruto quickly (and effortlessly) jumped back to avoid being stabbed. Chiyo and Sakura looked on in shock.

_**Is this guy smoking something? **_The Kyuubi asked. _**Does he honestly think he can beat you when you have me?**_

_Yeah, don't flatter yourself _Naruto replied as he continued to avoid Kakashi's attacks.

_**IMPUDENT BRAT! **_ The Kyuubi shouted. _**I AM THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE, GREATEST OF ALL THE BIJU!!! YOU WILL RESPECT ME!!!**_

_Yeah yeah, _Naruto replied. _Now pipe down. You're giving me a headache. _The Kyuubi growled. Naruto turned his attention back to Kakashi. _What's your game Kakashi? Are you asking to die?_

Kakashi jumped back and ran through some hand seals. "Raiton: Rairyū no Tatsumaki" Kakashi started to spin in place while generating lightning and wind chakra until it became a giant dragon of lightning. The dragon soared toward Naruto leaving destruction in its wake.

Naruto didn't flinch.

"Fine," Naruto said, clearly annoyed. "You asked for it Kakashi." He held his hand up in front of him and began to gather chakra. _Gotta thank Jiraiya for teaching me this one _he thought. He held out the swirling ball of chakra that was slowly turning red.

Kakashi's visible eye widened. _Impossible…_

_**Kit, **_the Kyuubi interjected. _**Are you sure you want to reveal this jutsu to them. It could prove troublesome in the future for a certain person.**_

_Yea, your right _Naruto thought. _Ero-Sennin wouldn't be too happy. _He quickly canceled his jutsu and held his hands up to his mouth. _Guess I'll have to settle for this. _"Katon: Gōenkyū" he exhaled a giant sphere of fire, much larger than a Great Fire ball. The heat from the jutsu could be felt by all occupants present.

The sphere of fire plowed into Kakashi's jutsu. Fueled by the wind from Kakashi's jutsu, it continued to grow larger, until it had eventually devoured Kakashi's Lightning Jutsu. It then exploded in a blinding flash of fire and light. When the smoke from the explosion cleared Naruto had Kakashi pinned to a tree, with a kunai to his neck.

"This is going to be your only warning," Naruto growled. "Mess with me again, and I will destroy you." He relaxed his grip on the kunai, and Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. It was too soon for Kakashi to be relieved however, as Naruto demonstrated by punching Kakashi through the tree he was pinned against. Kakashi flew backwards before crash into another tree, and landing on the ground in a crumpled heap.

Naruto jumped into the branches of the tree he had just partially destroyed as Sakura ran to help Kakashi up. "Don't worry," Naruto called to her. "I made sure I didn't break any ribs." _Unfortunately_

When Sakura had sufficiently patched Kakashi up, and they were all back in the clearing Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Are you satisfied?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded, and Sakura looked back and forth between the two, clearly confused.

Naruto spoke up, "Since Sakura is clearly confused (Sakura blushed) I will elaborate. Kakashi did not attack me randomly. His attack was merely as test of sorts. He was, to some small degree evaluating my skill. Perhaps he wants to inform Tsunade of how far I have progressed. I don't know, nor do I care. But as he was merely testing me, and didn't intend to kill me, there was no need for me to gravely injure him. " He leveled his eyes at Sakura, Kakashi, and Chiyo. "Which I could," he added.

The tension in the air rose a few levels.

"But on to more important things," Naruto said. "What's the plan?"

"What do you mean," Sakura asked, feigning clueless. "We have no idea why you're here."

"Don't play coy," Naruto said exasperatedly. "It's quite obvious that I'm here to rescue Gaara, the same reason you're here. I've been trailing you since Suna, remember?" Apparently she didn't.

"How is that possible," Chiyo said. "Surely we would've sensed you. Who taught you how to avoid detection that well?"

Naruto dismissed her question with a wave of his hand. "That's no concern of your's. What you should be concerned about is rescuing your Kazekage (_How does he know Gaara became Kazekage_ Kakashi thought), before Akatsuki kills him." He paused briefly before continuing. "Now I know I'm strong. But I can't take on all of the Akatsuki members by myself."

_**With my help we could CRUSH THEM! **_**Kyuubi roared.**

_Pipe down furball, _Naruto said.

"So we need some kind of strategy," Naruto finished. "Any ideas?"

It was silent for a while, as the small group in the clearing contemplated their situation. Chiyo, Sakura, and Kakashi hadn't thought of the possibly that all of the Akatsuki member would be in their base. If that was true, there was no way Gaara could be rescued. Finally Kakashi stood up.

"Well if we do run into all of the Akatsuki, we can't really do anything for Gaara. However, I doubt that all of the Akatsuki members are at this particular base. All nine members in the same spot is a severe strategic flaw. At most we'll run into three or four members."

_That's what my intel said, _Naruto thought.

"For now we should recover whatever kind of strength that we can. It would do no good for us to show up burnt out. We'll rest for a couple of minutes, and then meet Neiji's team before taking on the base."

_Neiji's here? _Naruto thought. _I wonder how Hinata is…_

Kakashi interrupted before Naruto could complete his thought, "So you will be with me Naruto. If that's alright with you?"

"Ehh, whatever," Naruto replied.

"Good," Kakashi said. "Alright. It's time for us to move out. Chiyo, Sakura! Lets go."

The party hopped into the trees and began speeding toward the Akatsuki base.

((((()))))

Team Gai consisting of: Rock Lee, Tenten and Hyuuga Neiji, were waiting at the designated spot for Team Seven or what remained of it.

"How long do you think they'll be," Tenten asked as she juggled a pair of kunai.

"Probably a little longer," Neiji said. "Reason suggests that if we ran into Akatsuki trouble, they must have run into some themselves."

"Ha!" Lee shouted. "Akatsuki is no match for the FLAMES OF YOUTH! YOSH!"

"Such spirit from my precious student warms me," Guy said. "But don't forget to stay on guard. These Akatsuki mean business."

"Hai, Gai-sensei," Lee responded nodding curtly.

Neiji was about to say something when they heard a rustling in the trees. They tensed up, turning toward the sound a pulling out a kunai. Four figures leapt from the trees and landed on the ground in front of the. _Four? _Neiji thought. _That's too many. _"Byakugan," he muttered under his breath. He aimed his Byakugan on the hooded figure standing next to Kakashi. But all he got back was a fuzzy image. _Impossible! How could he disrupt the Byakugan_.

Neiji rushed at the figure, palm thrust aimed at his heart. This mysterious person dodged the first thrust as well as two others before catching the last one in his hand.

"Nice to see you too…Neiji," this person said. His hood fell back to reveal bright blue eyes, blonde hair, and three whisker-like marks on each cheek.

Neiji was dumbfounded. "…..It's you….Naruto!"

* * *

Jutsu List

Raiton: Shushin no Jutsu (Thunder Release: Body Flicker Technique)- A modified Shushin no Jutsu, the user moves at high speed, and vanishes and appears with a thunderbolt.

Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)- The use spits mud from their mouth. Then a wall of earth rises from the mud and solidifies to block attacks. (Technique can also be used without spitting mud on the ground in some cases(such as this one)).

Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball)- After performing the necessary hand seals, a ninja inhales air via their mouth and, gather up chakra in their chest, then spews a large fireball from their mouth after blowing through a ring made by the thumb and index finger of the user, incinerating everything in range.

Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)- This technique creates a large explosion of wind from the user's location, easily leveling everything in its path. A variation of the technique involves a smaller blast of wind which gets ignited with flame.

Chidori (Lit. One Thousand Birds)- This jutsu channels a large amount of lightning-chakra to the user's hand. The high concentration of electricity produces a sound reminiscent of many birds chirping, hence the name. Once the technique is completed, the user charges forward and thrusts the Chidori into the target. This produces heavy amounts of damage that is usually fatal to humans. This technique is classified as an assassination technique because of the speed at which it is performed, despite the loud noise it produces.

Futon: Hakkeshou Kaiten (Wind Release: Eight Divination Palms of the Hand, Heavenly Spin)- The user will release a large of amount of chakra from their tenketsu. The member then begins to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex that can nullify almost any attack. Combined with Wind nature chakra, the vortex will shred anything that comes into contact with it, before expanding. The resulting wind, will slice through objects in its path.

Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile)- First the user inhales air and then this technique exhales a long stream of incredibly hot fire from the user's mouth like that of a flamethrower.

Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)- This technique takes the form of a giant, powerful dragon, created out of water. This jutsu needs forty-four hand seals, the highest amount of hand seals necessary to use a jutsu shown in the series so far. Another drawback to the technique is that it requires the user to be near a large body of water to complete the technique.

Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)- The Rasengan doesn't require any hand seals to use, relying only on the chakra control of the user. Once it is complete it becomes self-sustaining, which does not give the Rasengan a definite limit like its counterpart, the Chidori. The compacted nature and moving speed of the chakra allows the Rasengan to grind into whatever it comes in contact with, inflicting major damage. This also tends to launch the target backward once hit.

Fūton: Rasengan (Wind Release: Rasengan)- The Wind Release: Rasengan is an original jutsu created by Naruto, expanding on the original concept for the Rasengan: mixing one's chakra element with the Rasengan, emphasizing the combination of the highest forms of Shape Transformation and Nature Transformation. This task proved too difficult for the creator of the Rasengan, Minato Namikaze, and Kakashi Hatake. Yamato noted that adding one's chakra element with the Rasengan takes an incredible amount of skill, or rather natural talent or sense.

Naruto mixed his wind element with the Rasengan during his training, maintaining its original stability and increasing its power, far beyond that of his ordinary Rasengan. An example of the power that element manipulation adds to the Rasengan is shown when it is tested against Kakashi's standard Rasengan. The fact that it was only partially completed, but still be able to easily overpower Kakashi's Rasengan and damage his hand demonstrates just how far the Rasengan has been pushed when combined with element chakra.

Ōdama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)- The Great Ball Rasengan is a technique created by Naruto Uzumaki during the gap in time dividing Part I and II. Like the regular Rasengan, Naruto uses the shadow clone to help form it. However, by adding increased amounts of chakra to it, he is able to increase the size of the regular Rasengan, in turn increasing its power. It deals astounding damage to the area and the target, but it takes a lot out of Naruto.

Raiton: Rairyū no Tatsumaki (Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Tornado)- The user draws lightning down upon his body. The current will be contained within and around the user. He will then begin to spin in place forming a whirling vortex of wind and electricity. The vortex will take on the form of a dragon's head and will cover the area in front of him. It will then strike out against his opponent and painfully trap them in the vortex. Even if the attack doesn't directly connect with his foe, the lightning can jump from the vortex to hit a nearby target.

Katon: Gōenkyū (Fire Release: Roaring Flame Sphere)- Itachi exhales a meteor-sized sphere of fire that carries the enemy away and causes a massive explosion on impact.[1] This is much like Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique but a larger and destructive version.

* * *

And so closes another chapter. Originally I had planned this chapter to be two separate chapters, but I didn't like where the first chapter ended so I combined chapters four and five. The chapters longer than previous, and end in a nice spot which is what I wanted.

I included a jutsu list which I will from now on for those of you who like the English versions of the techniques

Also, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not going to be posting as often as I have this week. To be honest, I already had the first five (now four) chapters done, and they just needed to be edited. That's not to say that I'm not gonna post often. I hate when people take forever to update their stories. You can probably expect a chapter from me every week, or at least every two weeks. I'm going to work on some more chapters this weekend so I should have some chapters ready for posting by next week.

Thanks for the review and keep it up.


	5. Chapter 5

And here we go, another chapter out here for you. I know I said I would have it out before thanksgiving but I had so much work to do. But don't worry. I'll have another one out for you later this week.

Again thanks for all the reviews. Keep it up.

The next chapter. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, unfortunately, because my version would be so much better.

* * *

Chapter 5: It Begins

"Yo," Naruto replied. "Neji, Gai, Lee Tenten. How are you doing?" he said nodding to each of them in turn.

"Naruto," Neji said again in disbelief.

"Its Naruto!" Lee cried.

Naruto chuckled quietly to himself. _These guys sure are excitable_ he thought. "Yes. We have established that my name Naruto. I repeat my earlier question. What's up?"

Neji quickly recovered his composure and shook his head at Naruto. "Uzumaki-san. What are you doing here?" He asked coldly.

"Whoa, Neji. What's up with the attitude?" Naruto replied flippantly.

"You are Uzumaki Naruto. A-ranked missing nin, and an enemy of Konoha. I will deal with you accordingly." Neji replied as he pulled out a couple of shuriken. He launched the handful of shuriken and then rushed after Naruto.

_Here we go _Naruto thought as he watched Neji approach.

"Neji, no!" Kakashi said, but it was too late. Neji rushed toward Naruto, before delivering a palm thrust aimed at Naruto's heart. Naruto easily and lazily deflected it before pushing Neji back with the palm of his hand. Neji rushed back toward Naruto before delivering a series of lightning fast palm thrusts that Naruto was hard pressed to dodged. _Neji's faster than before. I'd better stop playing around. _Naruto deflected another of Neji's palm strikes before dropping to the ground and sweeping Neji's legs out from under him. Neji landed on one hand and back flipped back to his feet before thrusting out his palm.

"Hakke Kūshō" he shouted before shooting an invisible wave of chakra at Naruto. It hit Naruto and pushed him back into a tree.

_What the hell was that! _Naruto thought, before being forced to duck to avoid a strike that dented the wood behind him. He swiftly kicked Neji away before summoning two clones that rushed at Neji. Neji easily dispersed them with two palm thrusts, but it was just a distraction. Naruto charged at Neji, Rasengan in hand.

Neji began rotating in place at extreme speeds, expelling chakra from all of his tenketsu. "Kaiten!" he shouted. Naruto's Rasengan collided with Neji's Kaiten, letting off a huge flash of light. The two jutsu began struggling for dominance. Slowly, Naruto's Rasengan began pushing through Neji's Kaiten, until in a brief burst of chakra it pushed all the way through. Neji stopped rotating to Naruto's Rasengan an inch from his face.

"You have two options," Naruto growled out, all semblances of courtesy gone. "You can either back away, so that you can be debriefed on the situation, or you can pointlessly try to defeat me for some unknown reason, and eventually die in the process." Naruto smirked. "Oh, I forgot about one. I could shove this Rasengan through your head and save us all the trouble."

"Neji!" Gai's voice rang out sharply. "Enough with this nonsense. Your flames of youth burn brightly, but you must recognize that sometimes you have to put out the flames." He turned to Kakashi who had pulled out a familiar orange book and was reading it. "Your late Kakashi," Gai said.

Kakashi didn't even look up from his book. "Time is relative Gai. To me, I'm early." He snapped his book closed. "And anyway, we ran into some trouble. Akatsuki trouble. And from the looks of you four, so did you."

"Yes," Gai replied. "We engaged in battle with one of Akatsuki's members. He had blue skin, and chakra absorbing sword, and monstrous chakra."

"Also known as Kisame," Naruto interrupted. "His chakra capacity is on level with mine." _Or at least it used to be_. "He's Itachi's partner."

"And you know this how?" Neji chimed in suspiciously.

"I have my sources," Naruto said dismissively.

"So what exactly are you doing her Naruto-san," Lee asked cautiously. He quickly added," Not that it isn't nice to see you. But you are a missing nin…"

Naruto smiled at Lee's composure. "Its okay Fuzzy Brows. I'm here for the same reason you are. To rescue Gaara."

_**And to kill those wretched Akatsuki member's **_Kyuubi chimed in.

_They don't need to know that_ Naruto replied.

"YOSH!" Lee yelled. "THAT IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH HAVE LED TO THIS MOMENT."

Tenten pushed Lee aside. "What he mean's to say is that we need all the help that we could get."

"I know," Naruto said. "Anyway we should get going. We've wasted enough time as it is."

"Right," Kakashi said. "Have you guy's located any traps."

"Yes," Neji spoke up. "There are fours seals that need to be removed at the exact same time. If not…" he let the sentence hang.

"Alright," Kakashi said. "Team Guy will find the seals and destroy them. Team Seven plus Naruto will then infiltrate the Akatsuki base and attempt to recover the Kazekage." He looked around at all of them. "I want all of you to recognize how important this mission is, for the whole Sand village primarily, and for the whole ninja world. We cannot allow Akatsuki to kidnap our comrades and get away with it. We must stop them. We will stop them!"

The ninja all stood contemplating what their actions could result it. One by one they nodded. "Alright," Kakashi said. "Lets move out." The group of ninja jumped into the tress, heading toward their respective targets.

((((()))))

"Alright, if we're going to face Akatsuki we need all the information we can get," Naruto said as they leapt through the trees. "What exactly happened when the Akatsuki infiltrated the sound village."

Chiyo recounted the tale of Gaara's kidnap, including the descriptions of the respective Akatsuki members and their abilities. When she was done, Naruto slowly nodded his head.

"This is good. This is very good news," Naruto said.

"Why is this good, boy?" Chiyo spat out. "We're going to have to fight these people, people that managed to defeat the Kazekage."

Naruto was unfazed. "From what you've told me, Gaara wasn't defeated. He was just unlucky. Besides from what you've told me about these guys I can guess who they are. You already know about Sasori. The other guy, his name is Diedara. He's Sasori's partner."

"Partner?" Sakura asked.

"All the Akatsuki member's travel in pairs," Naruto said. "Primarily, so they can't be easily overpowered. They're all arranged according to their respective abilities. Sasori is a puppet user, so his jutsu are mostly close ranged. Diedara has the ability to mold clay into things, and then blow them up. He's the long-ranged user of the group." Naruto paused to clear his throat before continuing. "Fighting them together would be near suicide. Their teamwork is bound to be flawless after having worked together for so long."

"So we have to split them up," Sakura said.

"Exactly," Naruto agreed. "We have to split them up so that they cannot help each other. Chiyo, your also a puppet user, so you and Sakura can take on Sasori. Kakashi and I have a number of long ranged jutsu, so we'll take on Diedara. Is that all right with everyone?"

They all nodded, before continuing on through the forest. When they finally reached the Akatsuki hideout, they saw the entrance to a larger cave being blocked by an even larger boulder with a seal on it. Kakashi spoke into his radio, "Team Gai. This is Team Kakashi. Are you in place?"

"Hai," Tenten said.

"Hai," replied Neji.

"Hai," Lee said.

"We are all in position," Gai said. "Give us the signal," he said.

Kakashi motioned at Sakura and Chiyo, before creeping slowly toward the entrance of the hideout. Naruto followed after them silently. This was the most vital part of the operation. Surprise was everything in this case. If they were discovered before they could infiltrate the base, the Akatsuki members inside would be able to prepare accordingly.

((((()))))

"Do you sense that Diedara," Sasori growled at his partner as they prepared themselves to leave and destroy the hideout. "That unmistakable chakra. It seems as though we have company."

Diedara laughed before speaking up," It's nothing that my beautiful art cannot handle. The question is, can you handle it? It is your family."

Sasori growled before replying," You need not worry about me. I have no family." And that was the end of discussion. Diedara summoned his clay bird, before rolling Gaara's corpse around his tail.

"Lets go," Sasori said, before the cave began to shake, and the entrance fell down around them.

((((()))))

"Okay Kakashi," Gai said. "We're removing the seals in three, two, one, now!"

"Excellent work Gai," Kakashi said as the seal on the boulder disappeared. But he got no answer. "Gai, can you hear me? Gai?" He received no answer.

"Team Gai can take care of itself," Naruto replied. "We need to act now. I'm sure that Akatsuki has some kind of jutsu that alerts them when the seal is removed. And that reminds me," he said as he reached into his pocket. He dug around for a second before pulling out 2 tags with seals in them. He handed them to Sakura and Chiyo.

"Take these," he said. "There seals that I made for this kind of occasion. Just place your hand over it and form the ram sign. The seal will alert me, and hopefully, I'll be able to come help you."

"Interesting," Kakashi said as he inspected the seal. "How do these work exactly?" He seemed unusually interested.

"I know what you're thinking Kakashi," Naruto said as he smirked. "I'm good, but I'm not that good. It would take too long to explain the different matrices of it now, but basically what is does is it transfers a portion of my chakra to whoever uses the seal. The seal changes the nature of the chakra, so that I can sense the presence of the chakra, and so that I recognize when it's taken from me. The seal also provides me with the location of the person who used it, so that I can track them. The seal has a time limit, about five minutes after its activate, the foreign chakra vanishes. So I'll have a five minute window to get there."

"But what happens when the chakra can no longer emit the location of the target. Meaning that whoever uses the seal dies."

"Then it fails," Naruto said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So don't die."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "This reminds me a lot of the Fourth's jutsu."

Naruto smirked. "It's supposed to. That's what it was designed off of. At least until I master the Hirashin no Jutsu." The others eyes widened with shock, and Naruto's smirk grew larger from the look on their faces. Of course, he had neglected to tell them that he hadn't actually even seen the scroll that the Fourth's prized jutsu was written on, nor that he planned a trip to Konoha to retrieve it. They didn't need to know that.

Sakura took the seal back from Kakashi. "I suppose I should say thanks Naruto. But…," she seemed unsure of herself. She glanced down before speaking up again. "What are you giving this to us. Do you doubt our abilities?"

Naruto sighed. "Listen, I'm just trying to keep people from dying. Do I doubt your abilities. I don't know enough to say. But if you do get into trouble, you will need my help. No Akatsuki member would dare think of killing me. You, they would kill in a heartbeat." Sakura nodded.

"Okay, enough talk," Kakashi said. "Sakura, take care of that boulder."

She smiled before walking ahead toward the boulder. "With pleasure," she said, before tightening her glove over her hand. She brought her hand back, and drove it forward with all her strength into the rock. Cracks spread from the point of impact to the edges of the boulder before it shatterd into pieces and collapsed at Sakura feet.

Naruto whistled. He had to admit that that was impressive. _Just like Tsunade_ he thought. _I guess she took her training with Tsunade seriously. Finally, she seems like a real shinobi." _

"Ho ho," a voice called from inside the cave. "It seems like they've made it. Too bad it was all for naught."

"Show yourselves," Kakashi called into the cave. Two figures slowly walked toward the entrance of the cave, letting the sunlight from outside illuminate their figures.

"Dispose of the Kazekage," Sasori said to Diedara. "I would like to have a chat with dear grandmother." He looked at Chiyo as he spoke. Her face seemed white with disbelief.

"As you wish," Diedara said, before he jumped onto his clay bird and flew out of the cave.

"Lets go Kakashi," Naruto said, before he and Kakashi hopped after Diedara.

Sakura and Chiyo faced Sasori and for a long time no one said a word. The wind blew leaves through the air, birds shrieked in the distance, but still no words were said.

Finally Sasori spoke up, in his low, guttural voice," Now, let us talk grandmother," he said before backing into the cave. Chiyo and Sakura pulled out kunai respectively, before the ventured inside the dark cave.

* * *

Jutsu List:

Hakke Kūshō(Eight Trigrams: Empty Palm)- This jutsu is similar in practice to Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin, but has a specific target rather than a general area. To perform it, Neji does a palm thrust, shooting a concentrated force of chakra out of his hand, to violently push the opponent away.

* * *

Another chapter completed. Finally it seems like things are starting to heat up. If you were disappointed by the lack of action (other than the Naruto-Neiji mini fight) don't worry. The next chapter will be a huge fight seen. And if you think the fight is going to be the same as in the anime/manga you're going o be extremely surprised. Like fore example Sakura…just kidding. I can't tell you that now. You'll have to read to find out.

Chapter 6: Desert Puppeteers

Spoiler:

"_Kakashi watch out!" Naruto before throwing a kunai at the clay bomb headed Kakashi's way. Kakashi managed to dodged it, and it exploded behind him. He jumped over to Naruto._

"_Thanks Naruto," Kakashi said. _

"_Don't worry about it," Naruto replied. "Focus on the battle. Diedara's harder to beat than I thought he would be. But together, we should have no problem taking him out." _

"_I know," Diedara called from his perch on his clay bird. "I can't hope to beat you myself. My art sadly isn't strong enough. " He looked up and smiled. "But his is!"_

Who is Diedara talking about? Find out next chapter.


End file.
